Originally posted by Novaseeker

WoW's formula for success was very simple, really:  make a game that anyone can play.  It really is that simple. 

MMOs prior to WoW were more exclusive things -- people played them only if they had a ton of time on their hands, and the games were geared to a more serious/hardcore market.  WoW changed the direction of that, and made a game that grandma could run and learn to play.  That's really the original thing about WoW.

The rest of the game is all cut and paste from what came before WoW.  Blizzard just packaged it better, and implemented it more smoothly than anyone else.

I think anyone could play the Sims Online and Tabula Rasa's system specs were no big shakes.  Eve doesn't require a monster rig either.  DOAC and everything older should run on just about any recent off the shelf Dell or HP you can pick up from BestBuy.  All of those games put together don't even equal WOW's US population.

Being able to play a game doesn't mean people WANT TO play.  Grandma could be given a billion ISK and told which skills to train in Eve by the way and be just as powerful as any other player.  She can then zerg along with 50 other people, click a few target and shoot buttons and be quite useful.  Anyone can play Eve as well, but most have no interest.  Grandma won't do very well in Eve, but grandma won't be top ranked in the WOW arenas or leading raids either.  Understand?  You claim as if there something wrong with a game that allows anyone to play from your tone, by using the grandma analogy.  Thats a GREAT thing when a game is accessible to just about anyone.  You'd be foolish to say anyone can excel in WOW, since most can't compete in the arenas or complete the top raids.  Reaching top level has never been the end-all be all of existence like some other MMOs, nor should it ever be the point of the game.  WOW isn't about just leveling to 80 and quiting.  The journey is fun and you can make it as easy or difficult as you wish.  Thats what a fun game is all about.  Forcing unnecessary complexity and frustration on people is why most MMO fail to capture any sort of siginificant audience.  Its very hard to make a game accessible to a newb and also extremely challenging for the hardcore vet.

I think it's content and accessibility.
WoW simply has more content than any other similar MMORPG out there (7500.  Lotro has about 2500 and 1500 of those are killing boars)
Here's an article on that aspect
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57891
I know Sandboxers hate quests, but most people seem to love them.
 
The game itself is playable by a lot of people in terms of demographics and hardware. It also offers a wide range of UI mods.
Unless a game can offer more content and is as easy to use as play, nonthing will compete. Lotro probably had a chance, since it was a big name license, but IMHO, Turbine really dropped the ball in how much content it delievered. There's a huge void in terms of number of quests in the middle of the game (16-40) and I think many people quit them out of boredom. The recent XP changes are a patch to try to cover over this, but it's only a stopgap.

Battlenet. Almost fanatic fans of Blizzard, millions of them played at battlenet when WoW was in development, and they still do by the way(I did, and still do from time to time. Blizzard are gods over there). That's a big resource already there. No other game have had that to my knowledge. No, LotR and Star Wars doesn't count. Why? It's the company behind the game, not the ip that's important. The ip helps a little, but ain't a deciding factor.

Anyway, it's the only unique thing I can think of that WoW had going as a potential explanation to it's success. After those millions played WoW, they told their friends, who told their friends and so on. The ball just kept rolling.

Ok, quoting myself out of laziness:

1. Something in my gut tells me WOW was a 1-time-miracle that is not going to be repeated. At least not in any time we can conceive. Too many things came together. Warcraft as a known brand, Battlenet-experience from Blizzard, old-gen MMos like EQ had not really grasped ways to make gaming easier; generally more un-typical people coming to gaming in that era, like parents. Many conditions which just are not repeatable. There will be no 2nd WOW but thats just my opinion.

2. There is still no one who has given me any real, final answer why WoW is that successful. Sure, I can think of a lot of reasons generally, but those 11 millions is just a number I have no answer for. WoW really isnt THAT good or THAT innovative, even when I leave personal taste aside. There is just a totally irrational element in this, which again cant be calculated. Such a success cant be predicted or planned.

3. I just dont think any detail in itself is decisive for success, be it coreographed combat or cartoony look or what.  WOW has graphics that are "memorable" in the sense that you immediately will connect it to that game, which surely is a good formula (no matter if you like the graphics.)

4. Something that IMVPO opinion has contributed to WOW's success, it is much more "girly" than other MMOs. There is so much typical "girl stuff" in it, like Gnomes with pink hair and all that stuff, it is the classic combination for men and women both playing it, which attracts families, their friends, parents and kids, and thus making a huge appeal based of hearsay and word of mouth. If became a family-entertainment for everyone, a bit like a Disneyland entertainment park. Personally I dont like such things, but I am sure that brought many different people together. (I know, I know, there ARE women who play TF2, but fact just IS, a lot of couples play "male = tank", "female = healer".)

5. Essentially for the entertainment I could care less if my fav MMO is 100k, 300k, 1 million or what. How is that connected to me having fun with a MMO? Sure we all have our pride and want to say that our fav MMO has millions of people who like it. Humans just function that way, but it still is no necessity for gameplay fun.

6. Addiction effect made by endless grind and collections. People are always made to compare themselves; you have statistics, you can examine others, all that stuff. I am totally against this kind of gameplay. Examining should be no part of a game, or statistics. Also, they just add their daily factions quests, I hear ts 54 now, you can do over and over - or simple faction grind if you prefer. WOW is the HUGEST faction grind machine out there. It is the simplest way to keep people - addicting them. Something I really loathe in WOW. The alternative is not caring and being a poor, under-equipped jerk no one takes into the group. Called "peer pressure". What a lovely way to keep people in the treadmill. Basically it is this core-mechanics of keeping players which makes WOW such an evil thing IMO.

 

IMVPO 1 & 4 are the most crucial, singular timing, all-family-entertainment design.

subliminal messages and color schemes that pleasure brain censors

Point is no mmo to date will ever compete with WoW for a long time. WoW came at at time when there was not much to set mmo's apart. Any company trying to compete against such a monster is doomed to fail, besides WoW built it's player base during its time out and blizzard had a well established player base way before WoW with the Warcraft and Diablo series.

What any company has to do is grow its player base for an mmo, communicate well with them and make sure the balances of the game are worked on constantly.

Because every body keeps trying to BE WoW instead of making their own game. Hell look at Jump Gate Evolution. That game went from being every PvP players dream game to being WoW in space.

If people want to play a game "like" WoW they will just go play IT. I suppose it will take devs about another 10 years to realize this though and the MMOG craze will be long dead by then.

OP: "(just so you know I have played neither Vanguard or AOC as I don't have a computer capable of running either at the moment)"

Well, here's your answer - ACCESSIBILITY. While vast majority of games try to go for ultra-realistic look and hogging up computer resources to the point where games bocome overly complex and unlpayable by vast majority of computer owners, WoW went with a very polished stylized look and low-requirements client. BOOM. Game took off. Apparently most people don't care very much about game being ultra-realistic and having 10,000 customization options.  Say what you want, but that is THE main reason for WoW's success and future MMORPG developers should take note.

Simple answer, It was a fluke.    They got lucky, and the funny thing is WoW originaly was going to be a free to play game.

WoW wasn't a fluke, it was the perfect recipe.

Blizzard already had a pretty wide player base with battle.net, which offered them a good starting point.

Blizzard had the money and the resources to destribute the game very widely.

WoW is an incredibly easy game, so even players that are unfamiliar with the genre can get used to it.

WoW can run on practically any computer you can hook up to the internet.

Blizzard has the money and resources to perform constant maintenance and updates.

Honestly, it would have been strange for them not to be successful.

Originally posted by lonesail

OP: "(just so you know I have played neither Vanguard or AOC as I don't have a computer capable of running either at the moment)"

Well, here's your answer - ACCESSIBILITY. While vast majority of games try to go for ultra-realistic look and hogging up computer resources to the point where games bocome overly complex and unlpayable by vast majority of computer owners, WoW went with a very polished stylized look and low-requirements client. BOOM. Game took off. Apparently most people don't care very much about game being ultra-realistic and having 10,000 customization options.  Say what you want, but that is THE main reason for WoW's success and future MMORPG developers should take note.

Yes that is it in a nutshell. However i would add that the game appeals to many kinds of playstyles as well. You can solo to level cap if you want. Or of course you can group. You can pvp or pve. And the game is easy to play. Before the rabit loyalists come out, what i mean is its as hard or easy at you want it to be. Not everyone does the pvp or the raids and you dont have to as there is enough to do if you choose not to. So yes its accesible and easy enough for a 10 yr old to play but at the same time hard core pvp raiders can play and enjoy it also.

I have to agree with the Accessibility post. I am one who has played Both WOW and Vanguard because it seems for some reason Vanguard is being used so much here, I will use it as well.

When WOW came out yes it had its issues but the developers were quick to address them. That doesnt mean some of the issues it had didnt take some time to fix but they for the most part was addressed and the game ran smoothly. I didnt play WOW untill the 2nd month of release as I was sooo pumped about EQ2 talk about a let down visually and just play style wise. While WOW was fun. It ran smoothly for the most part. It was fast paced, even though I felt it was bit to cartoony for my taste. The attention to detail that was in the game was just amazing the world while cartoony looked good, and felt alive. Where Say EQ2 and even Vanguard Seemed kinda dull and lifeless in comparison. 

When Vanguard came out I was there actually I was part of the beta as well. The game demanded so much that I had to get a new computer because the one I had would not run it worth a damn. This I believe kept alot of people from playing. Lets face it most working famiies just dont have it budgeted to get a new computer because a game came out and at the time of launch it wasnt just a middle of the line computer you needed. You needed a higher end computer to be able to really run the game. Almost all my friends who attempted to play Vanguard neeeded to do some serious upgrades to even get the game to run well enough to play it let alone actually enjoy some of the breathtaking visuals it had.

Alongside of that Sigil kinda got screwed over by SOE... which slowed everything down. However Vanguard is by far now I think heads and shoulders a better game than WOW... but it had so much bad press that most people will never look back at it or give it a shot.

Originally posted by Vyeth

Hmm... Why has no game managed to compete with WoW as of yet? Because the players will not let them compete..

thats exactly the reason, everytime a new mmo comes out wow fanatics rip it to pieces, so that it cannot compete with their baby. personally i think warhammer online is a much better game than wow and with time it will prove so. warhammer with 4 years of content behind it will be better than present day wow.

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by bongo123

no one does MMO’s as good as Blizz

I would go one step further and say no one does PC games as well as Blizzard

 

Diablo2 bar none - is still the best selling action RPG available

other games were similar like  Titans Quest or Dungeon Siege, but neither ever came close in popularity

 

then theres Warcraft and Starcraft -- RTS games that havent seen any competition for sales

some RTS games may be better but not for sales

 

Personally, I had no interest in RTS games, until I tried Warcraft 2

any bioware rpg is better than diablo.

Originally posted by popinjay

 

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"Why has no game managed to compete with WoW as of yet?"

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How can you compete with something that you either:

 

 

 

(A) Try to emulate to a great degree, constantly forcing comparisions.

(B) Build it so sloppily that no one wants to stick around and play it.

(C) Niche it out so that only a select few actually want to play it.

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Originally posted by ronan32

Originally posted by Vyeth

Hmm... Why has no game managed to compete with WoW as of yet? Because the players will not let them compete..

 

thats exactly the reason, everytime a new mmo comes out wow fanatics rip it to pieces, so that it cannot compete with their baby. personally i think warhammer online is a much better game than wow and with time it will prove so. warhammer with 4 years of content behind it will be better than present day wow.

Just how many copies of warhammer sold?  It isn't like people shouted mean things from the sidelines and ruined the game.  The people complaining about warhammer were the people that tried it.  If the game was so great then more people would have stayed, but they voted with their wallets.

Even mythic has acknowledged the short commings of the game, which in the end put it right in the position it is in.  Not some fanbase of another game.  Blizzard has its share of fans, but there are a lot of people looking for a new game.  The only reason there has not been another massive game is that companies are not doing something right.  That is pretty much the big question in this thread.

Originally posted by ronan32

any bioware rpg is better than diablo.

Diablo is an action RPG

Blizzard has never made a regular RPG

Originally posted by Nadia

Originally posted by ronan32

any bioware rpg is better than diablo.

Diablo is an action RPG

Blizzard has never made a regular RPG

Diablo 2 was my favorite stress relief game, basically just mindless play. I can't wait for Diablo 3. Say what you want about WoW or whatever but Blizzard makes quality games.

I can't remember which of the people working on WoW said it.  I believe it's the reason WoW is such a success.  Might not be word for word, but it was something like this.   "We aren't trying to create something revolutionary.  We are just trying to create something fun, that takes place in the Warcraft Universe."  Like a few people have said in the thread already.  The idea that advertising was respondible for WoW's success is laughable.   An advertisement might get your foot in the door, but no one is going to stick around if it isn't at least mildly fun.

Originally posted by Roin

I can't remember which of the people working on WoW said it.  I believe it's the reason WoW is such a success.  Might not be word for word, but it was something like this.   "We aren't trying to create something revolutionary.  We are just trying to create something fun, that takes place in the Warcraft Universe."  Like a few people have said in the thread already.  The idea that advertising was respondible for WoW's success is laughable.   An advertisement might get your foot in the door, but no one is going to stick around if it isn't at least mildly fun.

I'm sorry, but I disagree. Without the "foot in the door", exactly how do you get the ones that will stick around? Word of mouth? I really don't think so.

There is a reason that World of Warcraft gained nearly 5 million "subscriptions" (I say subscriptions rather loosely) in 2005.

And it isn't just beacause it is a good game. It happened mainly because of the massive marketing campaign (advertising) that Blizzard had/has in the Asian demographic.

Don't get me wrong, I've played, and WoW does what it does, and does it well. But to think that it has ~11 million subscribers because it is a good game isn't being very realistic.